D&D 5E Archetypes Still Missing?

[doctorbadwolf]

Are there any archetypes you feel are still missing from 5e?

As far back as the run up to Xanathar’s, the designers claimed that most common archetypes were served by the game already, and soon they’d need to start branching out into stranger waters.

But IMO, they still haven’t filled some narrative spaces that deserve to be filled.

Keneticist - character, probably Monk, that is all about throwing things around with their mind, and/or manipulating gravity and inertia. These could be two archetypes, in fact.

The gravity does have dunamancy, from wildemount, but it deserves a more dedicated “bender” style archetype.

Telekinesis, though, is a footnote in a dozen archetypes, but no one actually specializes in it. No one fights and solves problems primarily via telekinesis.

Oh, I guess one more would be the summoner, but they have kindof serves this archetype, by now. Not well, but they’ve done it.

Oh! And the acrobat/athlete that isn’t necessarily supernatural.

What are yours?

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Yeah, a few. WotC really, really were off when they said the most commons archetype were covered after Xanathar. Really disappointed that time.

- Dedicated non-magical weapon specialist fighters: duelist, archer etc. You know, making archetypes supporting those damn fighting style you put in the game!

- plant/terrain based druid. The land druid is basically a non-archetype.

- dual-wielding barbarian. C'mon, its been a thing since Diablo 2! How about a shout barbarian? Ever played a game called Skyrim? Too close to 4e for the market?

- a.Bard.that.is.about.music How hard can it be? I know they wanted to prove that ''not every bard plays the lute'', but there is now so few things about music and performance in the class and its spells that it seems disconnected from the fluff.

- Blood magic. Yeah its eye-rolling-ly edgy, but its also the most common 3pp archetype published on the Dmsguild. Even my mom published a blood mage!

- Evil, Chaos and Good cleric's domains. With so many gods that are defined as The Gods of Gud or the Evilz Godz, its pretty strange that they must pick a subporfolio of healing or war to have clerics!

Those arent niche or rare archetypes, they are present in most fantasy fictions nowaday.

so yeah, no thanks, WotC-I-know-what-the-market-wants\salty

 

[JEB]

Elemental-focused arcane caster. Closest we've gotten (outside UA) was the Storm Sorcerer. (Plane Shift also had the Pyromancer, but that's borderline homebrew.) There's even an NPC elemental warlock (firenewt warlock of Imix), but no PC equivalent.

Speed/agility-focused barbarian (usually called "Dervish" in homebrew circles).

Dragon warlock (was surprised Fizban's didn't include this).

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Yeah, a few. WotC really, really were off when they said the most commons archetype were covered after Xanathar. Really disappointed that time.

- Dedicated non-magical weapon specialist fighters: duelist, archer etc. You know, making archetypes supporting those damn fighting style you put in the game!

Yep. Frankly I think splitting the fighter into 2-3 classes would have helped with that, but especially during the playtest there was 0% chance of that, so here we are.

- plant/terrain based druid. The land druid is basically a non-archetype.

Goodness yes. I’d settle for 3 more elemental Druids (wildfire exists, so earth, wind, and water).

- dual-wielding barbarian. C'mon, its been a thing since Diablo 2! How about a shout barbarian? Ever played a game called Skyrim? Too close to 4e for the market?

Yes! A Barbarian that can do a big flashy thing when they rage, flavored as shouting words of creation or whatever, would be dope.

Related, Bardarian. Give me a Frienzied Skald that tells stories and can bane or bless x/day, including when they rage.

- a.Bard.that.is.about.music How hard can it be? I know they wanted to prove that ''not every bard plays the lute'', but there is now so few things about music and performance in the class and its spells that it seems disconnected from the fluff.

Ugh. Yea. Even just spells that are concentration group effects.

I so badly want a bard that gets less Spellcasting and “Jack of all trades” stuff, and has bigger punch with their ability to speak truth into being. Swap Warlock’s Mystic Arcanum and Bard’s Magical Secrets. Warlocks cheat at magic, Bards have limited powerful magic but their words are terrifyingly powerful. (Also give bards new languages known over levels, and flavor it as unlocking the secrets of the First Words, which underpin all languages and were used to speak the multiverse into being. )

- Blood magic. Yeah its eye-rolling-ly edgy, but its also the most common 3pp archetype published on the Dmsguild. Even my mom published a blood mage!

Yeah it’s weird that there’s no blood magic warlock. Pact of The Chalice could be flavored as using your own blood for power.

- Evil, Chaos and Good cleric's domains. With so many gods that are defined as The Gods of Gud or the Evilz Godz, its pretty strange that they must pick a subporfolio of healing or war to have clerics!

Those arent niche or rare archetypes, they are present in most fantasy fictions nowaday.

so yeah, no thanks, WotC-I-know-what-the-market-wants\salty

agreed

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Elemental-focused arcane caster. Closest we've gotten (outside UA) was the Storm Sorcerer. (Plane Shift also had the Pyromancer, but that's borderline homebrew.) There's even an NPC elemental warlock (firenewt warlock of Imix), but no PC equivalent.

Wasn’t there also a Phoenix sorcerer? Did that get published?

Speed/agility-focused barbarian (usually called "Dervish" in homebrew circles).

Man we gotta rename that class…the idea of calling Dervishes (a real tradition) Barbarians really bothers me.

Dragon warlock (was surprised Fizban's didn't include this).

Very weird to get a dragon monk but no dragon patron.

 

[JEB]

Wasn’t there also a Phoenix sorcerer? Did that get published?

UA did a Phoenix Sorcerer, a Stone Sorcerer, and a Sea Sorcerer, but they never made it to official status for whatever reason.

Man we gotta rename that class…the idea of calling Dervishes (a real tradition) Barbarians really bothers me.

4E's equivalent was the "Whirling" barbarian, but I bet they can do better.

 

[Charlaquin]

Seconding blood mage. Seems like such an obvious sorcerer subclass I’m amazed it’s still absent from WotC-published material.

I’d also really like to see a proper alchemist. You could argue the artificer has this covered, but it really doesn’t satisfy the fantasy for me. PF2’s alchemist hits the spot though, and has bomber, healer, and mutagenecist varieties.

Personally I find the warlock satisfies the witch archetype just fine but I know a lot of people want something different out of a witch and I think there’s plenty of fertile ground there.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

UA did a Phoenix Sorcerer, a Stone Sorcerer, and a Sea Sorcerer, but they never made it to official status for whatever reason.

Ah okay, I thought I remembered a Phoenix sporcerer.

4E's equivalent was the "Whirling" barbarian, but I bet they can do better.

Yeah you’d think.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Man we gotta rename that class…the idea of calling Dervishes (a real tradition) Barbarians really bothers me.

The 4e name for that theme's PP was Wildrunner. I kinda like the name.

Very weird to get a dragon monk but no dragon patron.

Well Dragon Disciple monks have been a thing for some time now, but I agree that having the Cult of Dragons show up in most of the first adventures and having no player options to be members of the cult or be agents of a good dragon as either a warlock or a cleric is weird.

Same with the elemental caster: we got a whole adventure and a whole supplement about elemental magic, but no archetypes that goes with them?

 

[Sacrosanct]

Animist
Rune magic